The following is an excerpt from the "Animal Spirit Guides" on-line course. If you would like to take the entire course, click here.

As I sit at my desk, feeling a bit overwhelmed with the tasks before me, various papers scattered about like leaves under a tree that foretell the passing of summer, I notice something out of the corner of my eye. I turn and see the tiniest and one of the busiest of creatures flitting about amongst the red geraniums in the planters on the deck just a few feet away. It's a hummingbird, busy with the day's work of collecting nectar from the flowers, one of its sources of food.

A smile automatically spreads across my face--I can't help it. And I suspect anyone who would come across this remarkable being and take a moment to witness her tiny elegance and guileless charms would succumb to her joyful dance as I did. Her movements are captivating. They're so quick and agile. One moment she's in one spot and the next she's somehow appeared a few inches to the left.

In another instance a couple of years ago Doreen had one a few dives and subsequently became quite an avid scuba diver. I had done four dives prior to this and with each one I'd encountered some problems due to my lack of experience, the most serious being a bruised ear drum from too rapid pressure changes as a result of bouncing up and down at different depths so rapidly that the pressure on my ear drum didn't have time to adjust. It was a minor problem but this along with other difficulties I'd encountered didn't exactly sell me on the idea of diving more.

We were preparing to go on vacation in Kona, Hawaii, and Doreen planned a diving trip while we were there with another couple who were also avid divers. I felt the tug to go with them but since I didn't have great experiences in my first four dives, I was reluctant to sign on. As I'm considering these conflicting thoughts and feelings, I turned and saw sitting there on the desk my Power Animal Oracle Cards, which had arrived only two days earlier. The thought hit me: Why don't I just check out what they have to say? I had only tested them out by doing readings with a couple of friends and they had been surprisingly accurate, so why not ask the question about scuba diving

I got still, silently asked the question, inquiring as to whether any of these spirit animals represented in the cards had some advice about scuba diving for me. I then pulled a card. Since they were new, another card stuck to the one I'd pulled, which meant that both cards were part of the reading. I took a deep breath, hoping to find Turtle on the other side telling me to retreat. Instead, there was the statement at the bottom of Elephant, "You will overcome any obstacles." Hmm. Okay. Now for the next. As I peeled the Elephant card from the other, the words at the bottom jumped out at me: "Just do it!" Beaver had spoken. Although appreciative of such straightforward and direct advice from these cards that the animal spirits and I had co-created, I was in a bit of shock. I knew that I had to go scuba diving and confront my trepidation. The good news is that I did so and actually for the first time enjoyed it, and I'm not sure I would have without the counsel from the spirit guides.

Another time about three years ago I was having lunch outdoors with a friend, Edward, telling him that I was going to write my publisher and let him know the subject of my next book. I was excited about the proposal and thought that e-mailing him would give him time to think about it. Edward commented that it would be better to pitch it to him in person and reminded me that I had said I'd be meeting with him in a couple of weeks, so why not pitch it to him then? At first I resisted the idea because of my enthusiasm for the project (as well as a dose of willfulness), even though my friend was an experienced author and has been in the business much longer than I have.

Immediately following his comment a crow flew by a few feet in front of us. As I shared my reluctance to wait, Edward gently reiterated his opinion, and once again, another crow caught my attention, this one strutting along--as only crows can do--just a few feet to our right. Edward then said, "Do you need a third sign?" at which point I turned my head away slightly just in time to observe yet a third crow swooping skyward, adding an exclamation point from Crow spirit to his suggestion. "Okay," I muttered, "I surrender. I'll wait."

Message Delivery Service

So what about these stories makes them so unique? What do they have in common? From one perspective, they're just interesting stories about my experiences with these three visitors from the animal kingdom. From a rational point of view there's not much else to them.

Yet what's compelling about these stories is that I knew each of these animals was delivering a message from Spirit for me. It wasn't only the physical animals themselves that were communicating something to me. Instead the collective spirit of each of these species was attempting to deliver a message. In other words, it wasn't just the hummingbird, elephant, beaver, or crows that were showing up in a way that connected so strongly with me, but in addition each particular animal was showing up as a representative of their entire species. Specifically, the spirit or essence of their particular species, which can also be referred to as the oversoul of that species.

So on one hand, the hummingbird was just being . . . well, a hummingbird. But the fact that I turned to see her at just the right time, that her presence lifted my spirits and made it so I couldn't help but smile, suggested that something more was going on. The spirit of this tiny but powerful being connected directly with my soul, even before I could articulate what was being communicated. Once I got the connection, not only did I perceive the physical hummingbird dancing amongst the geraniums, but also the presence of Hummingbird, capitalized without an article before it (such as "a," "the," or "an") that when written or said this way, implies the presence of the spirit animal.

Magic and Meaning

This world is magical in this way and is always communicating with us, particularly through the animals. Those of us in the western world have been raised with cultural values that have taught us to see the natural world as outside and disconnected from us, with its main purpose being to supply our own human needs. Unlike those in indigenous and ancient cultures that have existed much closer to Nature, we tend to view the world with eyes trained in the illusion of objectivity, that we're somehow separated from it all. Since our long ago ancestors had to rely on Earth Mother to provide their basic survival needs, they learned out of necessity to communicate with the other beings on this planet and how to discern the meanings and messages from these other beings. Of course many of these other beings were the animals.

Fortunately we're seeing a resurgence and revival of some of these old ways and realizing that indigenous peoples and our long ago ancestors knew something about the natural world that had been lost to us. We've suffered from a severe case of cultural amnesia, of dreaming a false dream, of being forgetful of our intimate and intertwined relationship with the Earth and all of Her children. One manifestation of our awakening is how many of us are renewing and revising our relationship with the animals and opening ourselves to their guidance and teachings. The spirit of the animals wants to help us live in harmony with the Earth, to offer help, inspiration, and healing. They only require us to be willing to ask and to receive their counsel.

In the personal examples I shared with you, each of these beings brought messages that were incredibly helpful for me given the circumstances in which I was involved. In the first instance, the Hummingbird's message was to lighten up and to be flexible with the challenges that I was facing as evidenced by the automatic smile that plastered my face at the sight of her. Couldn't have been more perfect and a much needed message at that time!

When I consulted the Power Animal Oracle Cards and Elephant and Beaver showed up, their messages were quite clear and straightforward. Didn't take a lot of contemplation to decipher what that meant in response to my question. The obstacles to which Elephant was referring were not physical obstacles but mental ones. My fears were based on questionable beliefs that were readily shaken out once I committed to going diving again. Beaver's message was unequivocal. I do like it when my animal spirit guides are direct and straightforward like that.

Then there were the crows. Since I do considerable work with Raven, which is cousin to Crow, the repeated sightings of these crows confirmed what my friend was saying. It's not unusual to see crows since their quite social and hang around human beings frequently, but I took these successive sightings as Spirit emphasizing that it would be best to wait and talk with my publisher face to face in order to pitch him my next writing project.

I've heard so many stories like these that I'm convinced that our animal brothers and sisters not only want to communicate but want to help us. It's not just the animals themselves, but the spirit of these animals that comes through in their communications. For our part, it only requires us to be open to their help and learn how to discern their messages, which we'll delve into in this course.

Homework

I'd suggest keeping a journal for this course. Recall a time when you thought an animal was trying to communicate with you. This could be a domesticated animal or an animal in the natural world. Describe your experience with this in your journal. Also, for the next few days observe the animals in your environment. Like in the meditation, notice their characteristics, their behavior, demeanor, and any other qualities you pick up on, and record in your journal your observations.

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